In 2020, Inclusion Australia partnered with VALID, the NDIS Quality and Safety Commission (NDIS Commission) and families of people with complex support needs to develop resources for people and families running services-for-one.
Background
People with complex support needs often have limited options for housing and support. Many have also had negative experiences in disability services and with government agencies.
Some families of people with complex support needs have set up a service-for-one for their family member.
Services-for-one include those that are directly employing staff and are responsible for their own business processes. It does not include employing staff through a service provider.
In 2018, the NDIS Commission announced that any NDIS-funded service using regulated restrictive practices must register with the NDIS Commission.
Families were concerned that it would be difficult to meet these new requirements.
What we did
We worked with families and auditing specialists to develop plain language information to help families understand and navigate the NDIS registration process.
We ran a trial NDIS registration audit of a service for one to better understand the auditing experience for families running a service-for-one.
We also developed guidance for auditors to use when auditing a service-0for-one.
This project was funded by the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission.
Service-for-one factsheet
For many people with complex support needs, mainstream group-based disability services do not work well. For some people, those services have caused a lot of harm and trauma.
Instead, families of people with complex support needs might decide to set up a service-for-one.
In a service-for-one, supports are tailored specifically to an individual’s needs. Using the participant’s NDIS funding, the family member—or other people important to the person—directly employ staff who provide support. This means the person with disability can get supports that centre their needs and preferences and adapt as support needs change.
People often ask us about a service-for-one. We have made this factsheet to explain more about this model.
Find out more
To access the resources, go to the services-for-one website.
For more information about NDIS registration, contact the NDIS Commission on 1800 800 110.